“Is this normally open to the public?” A concerned, confused and baffled tourist asked from the forecourt of one of Australia’s most recognisable public attractions.
Yes, the Sydney Opera House is usually open to the public, but today, it’s been overrun by teenagers, mums, dads, TikTokers and a few rogue adults.
The reason – in case the 13-year-old in your life hasn’t informed you – is that Mr Beast is in town.
The 26-year-old YouTuber, whose real name is James Donaldson, is largely unknown to anyone who has completed their teen years, but is actually one of the most famous people in the world.
He is a rogue Gen Z game show host shares over-the-top clips on YouTube to his 289 million followers. The games are zany and elaborate, usually include physical challenges, and there are always massive cash prizes up for grabs. For instance he once offered people $10,000 to sit in a pit of snakes
To translate for the older set, he’s Grant Denyer, if there wasn’t a Channel 10 PR person making sure he only asks PG questions on Family Feud.
Today in Sydney Mr Beast was planning to give away cars.
On a Wednesday in the middle of the day when everyone’s meant to be at work, school, or hanging out washing instead of working because they are WFH, outside the Sydney Opera House was swarming with young people.
The people were so young that most of them came wearing backpacks.
The crowd was crammed with mums who were taking the day seriously, armed with bottles, water, and snacks, and teenagers who were prepared to cheer at the mere sight of Mr Beast walking across the stage during set-up.
I spent the entire time asking my Gen Zer co-worker if he knew who people were.
“Is she famous, or does she just have pink hair?” was sadly a sentence that came out of my mouth.
Were there celebrities? Depends on your definition. But you don’t need traditional celebrities when you have TikTok personalities providing live entertainment.
There was the Aussie Bro Squad, four apparently well-known teenage brothers filming themselves dancing for the social media platform.
The boys turned up in matching Teenage Ninja Turtle Jackets and happily danced within the crowd without any prompting.
At first, anyone over 25 who happened to be in the crowd was utterly baffled and had no idea who they were.
But the four of them were wearing matching jackets, and people were coming up to take photos with them, so it was clear they were either famous or very confident.
Finally, a young person in baggy jeans put anyone who once had dial-up internet out of their misery and confirmed who they were. A quick Google search will tell you the brothers have over 100,000 followers on TikTok.
So what is Mr Beast’s draw?
Sure, he gives away expensive prizes, but so does Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? And that show isn’t drawing millions of eyeballs anymore, no matter how much Eddie McGuire projects his voice.
Well, the young people did their best to explain. Someone said it was because he was “rich”. Another explained he was “cool”. They couldn’t clarify what made him cool, but I get that being cool is more of a vibe than something you can explain.
One dad said he was a fan and so were his kids. When I asked why, he took a while to answer but eventually settled on the word “entertaining,” which, once again, is fair enough.
The best response was from one Gen Zer, who, when I asked what was happening here today? He replied.
“I don’t really know what is going on, hey.”
Same.